Tag: freshman seminar

A new freshman seminar will study the grassroots, citizen-driven restoration of the nearby Baird Creek Parkway thanks to a $5,990 grant to Associate Prof. Mathew Dornbush, principal investigator, and the UW-Green Bay Natural and Applied Sciences academic unit. The award is part of a larger grant made to the private Baird Creek Preservation Foundation by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The Foundation says the subcontract to UW-Green Bay will be helpful in promoting further Baird Creek preservation and restoration. The seminar course to be led by Dornbush during the 2014-15 academic year will mix classroom and field work for the several dozen students, and include on-site activities coordinated by the Baird Creek citizen group. An aim of the project is to familiarize UW-Green Bay freshmen with this local success story and the potential benefits of citizen-initiated land-conservation efforts. It is also hoped the project will help Baird Creek Preservation Foundation develop an effective long-term strategy for recruiting new volunteers and members.

Students in Prof. Regan A. R. Gurung’s freshman seminar class had a different kind of Halloween experience this Oct. 31, stepping into the world of a paranormal investigator as he checked out a reputedly haunted campus dorm room.

Investigator Steven De Spain, who heads Great Lakes Association Spirit Searching, used a variety of sensors and other equipment to attempt to detect paranormal activity in the room, located on the third floor of Byron Walter Hall. Students used audio recorders and video cameras to capture the investigation for later review.

It was the perfect Halloween activity for the course, titled “Gods Ghosts and Goblins: The Psychology of Belief.” De Spain spoke to the students about what he does before the class set out for the reportedly haunted room.

“Steven gave a really good presentation overviewing what investigators do, with a good balance of skepticism and openness to the ghost world,” Gurung said. “It was a good critical thinking exercise.”

So what did the ghost-hunters find? No conclusive word yet, but they’ll be reviewing the tapes. In a well-lit room, of course.

It’s an interesting little item that describes how a group of students from Karen Dalke’s freshman seminar class, Animals and Society, took their lead from another seminar course, Ellen Rosewall’s Arts Management seminar, and recently created their own art with a message. Click here.